Research in a Nugget

Brief description of research

For over sixty years, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) continues to be an active and fertile area of scientific research, with applications ranging from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to testing fundamental theories and applications of quantum mechanics. However, one of the main challenges in NMR over its history has been in increasing sensitivity and contrast/resolution in NMR and MRI.

In order to address this challenge, the main focus of our group will be in designing new theoretical and experimental to improve contrast and sensitivity in NMR and MRI. In particular, we are developing new pulse sequences which can enhance the efficacy of existing contrast agents over a wide range of experimental conditions, which should lead to improved contrast. Besides developing methods for improving contrast, we are also interested in using NMR to test and to develop theories describing how quantum systems evolve under feedback in order to see, for instance, how classically chaotic behavior can emerge in quantum systems. The projects in our group will provide students with an excellent foundation in both quantum and statistical mechanics along with providing them a grounding in the principles of modern spectroscopy.